Washington Man Sentenced to 50 Years to Life for 1980 and 1984 Murders

A Washington man was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to two cold-case murders from the 1980s. Mitchell Gaff, 74, admitted to killing Susan Vesey in 1980 and Judith Weaver in 1984 in Everett.

Investigators linked Gaff to Weaver’s 1984 murder after Everett Police Department detectives visited his home posing as gum-industry researchers. Gaff provided a sample that was later matched through the federal CODIS database. He was arrested in May 2024 and later charged with Vesey’s killing while in custody.

Vesey was killed inside her apartment the day after her 21st birthday on July 12, 1980. Weaver’s body was found inside her home on Rucker Avenue after first responders responded to a fire on June 2, 1984.

Speaking in court on Wednesday, Gaff apologized to the victims’ families. “I am sorry, not because I was caught, but the consequences,” Gaff said. ” Jacqueline O’Brien, who survived a 1979 attack by Gaff, told the court she escaped the assault and later helped identify him.

O’Brien said the incident occurred 47 years ago but still feels recent. Vesey’s son Joshua Vesey, who was three months old at the time of the murder, addressed the court about the loss of his mother. Weaver’s brother Leon Gregory noted that his parents and siblings died without learning who killed her.

The judge cited Gaff’s history of violent crimes against women and efforts to conceal the offenses when imposing the sentence.